Swedish broadcaster SVT, reporting from a Stockholm court, quoted the 22-year-old Swede as saying he cut himself when taking the two crowns and an orb from a display at the Strangnas Cathedral, west of the capital, on July 31.
Police say blood on two of the items, found on February 5, matched his DNA, but they have no clue why the jewels turned up when they did.
“I am the one who committed the theft,” the defendant, who has not been publicly identified, said on the last day of the trial.
The heist made international headlines because the thieves got away from the red-brickchurch – built between 1291 and 1340 – on stolen bicycles and then fled by motorboat through the vast system of lakes west of Stockholm.
The items from 1611 that once belonged to King Karl IX and Queen Kristina are estimated to be worth 65 million kronor (£5.4 million).
They are funeral regalia which are placed inside or on top of a coffin to symbolise a deceased royal’s identity and social rank.
Prosecutor Isabelle Bjursten asked that the suspect, who reportedly intended to sell the items, get six years in prison. He has not revealed who helped him but two more men have been detained.
One is suspected of being involved in the return of the precious regalia, found in a bin on top of a car, north of Stockholm.
Another person probably helped with the heist and has been detained but not charged.
While…
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